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Greenspace President, Wayne Attoe, has summarized a brief history of the historical property that Greenspace purchased in 1999. The
property is located on Center Street in Cambria’s East Village.
Many immigrants came to California from China’s Kwangtung
(Quangdong) Province in the early 1850’s. After working in theMonterey area, they migrated south, harvesting seaweed (sea
lettuce) and abalone for shipment back toChina via San Francisco. They also har-vested and dried brown kelp, which had
long been used by Chinese to make soup.During the 1870’s other Chinese worked
in quicksilver mines near Cambria, hav-ing been brought to the area by Ah Louis
of San Luis Obispo for employment onvarious work projects, especially for workon the Southern Pacific Railroad as it
was continued into the county.Anti-Chinese sentiment developed for a
variety of reasons including competition forjobs and their willingness to work for low
wages. This lead to the Chinese ExclusionAct of 1882. This Act effectively stoppedimmigration until it was repealed in 1943.
The first Chinese immigrants in the United States intended toremain for only a short time and, in accordance with Cantonese
tradition, they left their wives in the homes of their parents. Al-
though Chinese custom kept most women from joining their hus-bands overseas during the first three decades of unrestricted im-migration, the Chinese Exclusion Act erected an official barrier totheir coming in 1882. However, even before the Act the Chinese
people were discriminated against. Examples of this discrimina-tion were: 1) special taxes; 2) not being permitted to testify in court
against a white man; and 3) being denied citizenship.
Cambria became
the social center forlocal Chinese, and
their activities wereprimarily located in
an area which be-came known as the
Chinese Center. Atthe Center the Chi-nese would celebrate
traditional holidaysand events, write let-
ters home, share in-formation, gamble,
cook, and converse in their own language. The Center consisted of a bunk
house, laundries, miscellaneous structures and what people have calle
the “Chinese Temple” or “Joss House,” but what our consulting histor
ans tell us is more accurately called an “Association Hall.” The propertnow owned by Greenspace was at the heart of the Chinese Cen
ter. The only structure that remains is the Association Hal
Current research suggests that it was an association hall, or tongdedicated to the liberation of China from
Manchu Rule. The organization was callethe Chee Kong Tong. Branches of this tonwere established as early as the 1860’
and could be found in many locations ithe western United States. This move
ment was successful under the leadership of Sun Yat Sen. The Manchu gov
ernment was overthrown in 1911The temple interior ceiling and walls are
sheathed with good, milled tongue-andgroove wall boards. Across the west wall, opposite the door, there is a six-foot-wide by two
foot-deep altar seat, flanked by tall storage closets, which together form a five-and-a-half-foo
tall altar box from the seat to the sloping ceiing. The altar seat and cabinets are all fin
ished with the same tongue-and-groove boards as the remaindeof the interior walls. These original features shorten the interioroom depth from about 15 to 13 feet. Several tiny paint scraping
suggest the room’s original interior was dark colored or naturawood, while the altar area originally was painted green. Margare
Soto and Walter Warren [who knew the building as children] recalled the altar as containing a single large statue
The altar would have been decorated with two candlesticksincense bowls, a rectangular bowl, and a pair of vases containing flowers. Tong buildings were typically painted red
The building likelyserved both fra-
ternal and reli-gious purposes.
Chinese left theCenter about
1916. In 1919 theWarren familypurchased the
property. Theolder and less
stable buildingswere torn down.Only the “Red
House” remained. The last Chi-
nese fisherman of this era, How Wong, moved to San Francisco in 1974
The Greenspace InsiderVolume 2, Number 5 June, 2002
GREENSPACE’S CENTER STREET PROPERTY
Immigration
Cambria Chinese
Community
Association Hall
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Local Land Conservation Since 1988 Post Office Box 1505
Cambria, California 93428805) 927-2866 - Phone805) 927-7530 - Fax
e-mail: [email protected]
U.S. Bulk Rate
PAID
Permit No. 37
Cambria, CA 93428
Non-Profit Organization
G r e e n s p a c e p u r c h a s e d t h e 1 . 6 - a c r e p r o p e r t y i n 1 9 9 9 t o p r e s e r v e t h e n a t u r a l c h a r a c t e r o f
t h e c r e e k s i d e a r e a . R e s t o r a t i o n e f f o r t s a l o n g t h e S a n t a R o s a C r e e k c a n b e a m o d e l f o r s i m i l a r w o r k e l s e w h e r e .
W e e n v i s i o n t h e m a j o r i t y o f t h e s i t e a s a n u r b a n r e f u g e , a p l a c e a w a y a n d d i s t i n c t f r o m t h e t o w n a r o u n d i t . I n t e r p r e t i v e e x h i b i t s a s s o c i a t e d w i t h a n a t u r e t r a i l c a n e x p l a i n w a t e r s h e d d y n a m i c s a n d h a b i t a t i s s u e s . W e e x p e c t t h a t t h i s n a t u r e t r a i l w i l l l i n k w i t h
t h e l a r g e r “ T o w n T r a i l ” . T h e C h i n e s e A s s o c i a t i o n H a l l w i l l b e m o v e d b a c k t o i t s a p p r o x i m a t e o r i g i n a l l o c a t i o n n e a r t h e
c r e e k , a n d e v e n t u a l l y b e r e s t o r e d a n d b e o p e n f o r v i e w i n g . ( D e m o l i t i o n o f t h e r e m a i n d e r o f t h e R e d H o u s e w a s n e c e s s a r y d u e t o a c u t e d i l a p i d a t i o n . )
T h e A s s o c i a t i o n H a l l i s c l e a r l y a v e r y i m p o r t a n t c u l t u r a l r e s o u r c e f o r t h e C a m b r i a c o m m u n i t y a s a r a r e a n d i n t a c t e x a m p l e o f a
r e l i g i o u s / f r a t e r n a l h a l l b u i l t i n t h e v e r n a c u l a r t r a d i t i o n , f o r C h i n e s e w o r k e r s e m p l o y e d i n t h e h i s t o r i c a l s e a w e e d e x p o r t i n d u s t r y . ( G r e e n w o o d , S l a u s o n , B e n t z , T h e R e d H o u s e )
W h a t ’ s “ F o r S a l e ” ? T h e f r o n t p o r t i o n o f t h e s i t e , w h e r e t h e A s s o c i a - t i o n H a l l p r e s e n t l y s i t s , i s c o m m e r c i a l l y z o n e d a n d i s o f f e r e d f o r s a l e
t o o f f s e t t h e c o s t o f t h e m o r t g a g e f o r t h i s a c c e s s i b l e u r b a n r e f u g e i n t h e h e a r t o f t h e E a s t V i l l a g e . G r e e n s p a c e i s c u r r e n t l y p a y i n g m o n t h l y
m o r t g a g e p a y m e n t s f o r t h i s a c q u i s i t i o n . A r c h e o l o g i s t s a n d h i s t o r i a n s
a r e c o n s u l t i n g w i t h G r e e n s p a c e t o e n s u r e t h a t C a m b r i a ’ s C h i n e s e h e r i t a g e i s d o c u m e n t e d a n d p r e s e r v e d .
C h i n e s e H e r i t a g e o n C e n t e r S t r e e t
o u r c e s f o r t h i s I n s i d e r i n c l u d e : H a m i l t o n , W h e r e T h e H i g h w a y E n d s ; L y d o n , C h i n e s e G o l d ; C h a c e , G u m S a a n
o u r n a l ; G r e e n w o o d , e t a l , T h e R e d H o u s e ; C h u a n d C h u . A r c h a e o l o g i c a l w o r k f u n d e d b y S a n L u i s O b i s p o
C o u n t y C o m m u n i t y F o u n d a t i o n a n d t h e N a t i o n a l T r u s t f o r H i s t o r i c P r e s e r v a t i o n .
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